Life, Labor, and Legacy: The Austin State Hospital

Posted on November 13, 2025 by Sarah S Norris

Three cheers to students in my Planning and Understanding Exhibits course for successfully launching their class exhibit, Life, Labor, and Legacy: The Austin State Hospital. Students in this course create a museum-quality exhibit from beginning to end, including building narrative from artifacts, writing interpretive text, creating interactive museum education elements, conducting audience development and promotion, and creating an online exhibit. It’s an impressive effort that many institutions manage over months or years; these students do it in a semester!

Students toured the Austin State Hospital’s historic original building, which served as inspiration for their exhibit logo.

This fall, we’re so pleased to collaborate with the Austin State Hospital (ASH) to show a collection of artifacts that highlight their history. Established in 1856, ASH followed the Kirkbride model of patient support, creating a wide-ranging and self-sustaining community with its own dairy farm, ice factory, sewing and tailor shop, artesian wells, and gardens. Students worked to incorporate both institutional and patient perspectives into the exhibit, conducting research at the Austin History Center, Briscoe Center for American History, Texas Archival Resources Online, and others.

This DeLee-Hillis Obstetric Stethoscope was used to monitor pregnant residents at ASH.

Big thanks to D.D. Clark and John Villareal at the Austin State Hospital for facilitating our work with these historical artifacts, and to Sonja and Andre Burns for sharing insight into modern-day patient experiences and advocacy. The exhibit is on view on the first floor of the UTA building through 11/20, and online at https://lifelaborlegacy.utcreates.org/

Learn more on our Instagram.

Listen to music of the Austin State Hospital on Spotify.

Risk Assessment at the Flower Hill Center

Posted on November 13, 2025 by Sarah S Norris

Students in my Disaster Planning and Response class paid a visit to the Flower Hill Center this semester to conduct a risk assessment. Tucked away on wooded grounds on W 6^th St., Flower Hill is the longtime home of the Smoot family in Austin, TX. The home was built in the 1870s, and family lived there through 2013. Today, Flower Hill is a museum and historical center hidden in plain sight in central Austin!

The Flower Hill Center

My students focused their work on the home’s library, home of the fore-runner institution to the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. A risk assessment is a preservation report that identifies and prioritizes threats to the longevity of a collection or site, and then recommends preventive actions to manage those threats. A variety of risk assessment models are used in the field; our class focuses on the ABC Method published by the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM).

Michele Stewart and Natalie George give students a tour inside the Flower Hill Center.

Working in groups, students identified and proposed action for risks in temperature, relative humidity, water incursion, and dissociation. Through this exercise, they learned about preservation challenges for books, photographs, ceramics, wooden objects, and metals. Big thanks to Michele Stewart and Natalie George for hosting our students to work onsite at Flower Hill and to gain hands-on experience!

SXSW Panel: Second Cities: Culture Beyond the Capital

Posted on February 28, 2025 by Sarah S Norris

I’m so pleased to join the upcoming panel discussion Second Cities: Culture Beyond the Capital at SXSW 2025, happening March 10 at 2:30 PM. I’ll be joining Mat Bancroft from the University of Manchester; Kirsty Fairclough from the School of Digital Arts; and Steve Ray from the Texas Music Office to talk pop music archives and exhibition, scholarship and support. This conversation highlights the British Pop Archive within the University of Manchester Library’s Special Collections. Programming also features wide-ranging discussions, installations, and interactive events focused on education, technology, and culture in in the UK. The event takes place at UK House, and it’s open to SXSW badge holders. Hope to see you there!

All That Glitters: The Practice and Preservation of Hand Tooling

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Sarah S Norris

Hearty congratulations to the students in my Planning and Understanding Exhibits class for spotlighting bookbinding craft and practice in their successful exhibit All That Glitters: The Practice and Preservation of Hand Tooling. This exhibit introduced visitors to the practice of hand tooling, a form of decorating a book’s cover, as a physical signifier of the value of information. Through a collection of tools and books, the exhibit explored the process and labor of becoming a craftsperson and the importance of preserving both artifacts and practice.

A box of gold tooling supplies featured in the exhibit belonged to conservation educator Paul Banks.

The digital exhibit is live, and the physical exhibit culminated in a closing reception in collaboration with the Austin Book Arts Center. We were so pleased to host tooling and stamping demonstrations by Mark Evans of Adolphus Bindery and Mary Baughman. A few brave visitors even got to try their hand at this historical craft.

Mark Evans demonstrates gold tooling at the exhibit reception.

As featured in the Daily Texan, this exhibit was entirely planned and executed by iSchool students. From writing text and designing text panels; to crafting a narrative from physical materials; to digitizing exhibit materials, creating an exhibit website, promoting the exhibit online, and organizing the reception, students became their own exhibit committee and counted on each other to build a professional-level exhibit. What a heartening way to bring our book and information communities together. Three cheers to the class!

Risk Assessment: Space Center Houston

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Sarah S Norris

This fall, I’m so excited to collaborate on a disaster preparedness project with Space Center Houston! Master’s students in my course, Disaster Planning and Response, are creating risk assessment reports for the artifacts displayed in Space Center Houston’s Starship Gallery. We are grateful to Collections Manager Carmina Mortillaro for her work on this project!

Dr. George Carruthers (right) and his UV light camera, approximately 1972. See: https://spacecenter.org/remembering-dr-george-carruthers/

Risk assessment is a process of quantifying and prioritizing the dangers posed to cultural heritage collections. For example, collections managers might assess the likely impact of flood, fire, mold, or earthquake on irreplaceable books, manuscripts, or artworks. A risk assessment is a critical first step in taking preventive action, and in ensuring historical artifacts are available to future generations.

My students are applying the ABC Model of risk assessment, as described in A Guide to Risk Management of Cultural Heritage (2016), by Stefan Michalski and Jose Luiz Pedersoli. Based on a remote gallery tour and Q&A session with Ms. Mortillaro, the students are scoring preservation challenges and formulating proactive solutions to stop problems before they start. We hope our reports can help Ms. Mortillaro to safeguard treasures like the first UV light camera, invented by African-American NASA scientist Dr. George Carruthers. Though these objects were designed to go into space, they need special help to withstand the challenges of time here on Earth.

Many thanks to Carmina Mortillaro and her team at Space Center Houston for generously assisting us with this project!

Conservation Treatment: A Drawing by Sir Aston Webb

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Sarah S Norris

This spring, I conducted conservation treatment on an architectural drawing from the Alexander Architectural Archives. The drawing, by British architect Sir Aston Webb, shows a late-19^th-century renovation of the Church of St. Bartholomew the Great. At over 900 years old, St. Bart’s is the oldest surviving church in London!

The drawing presented several condition issues. It was covered in a significant layer of grime, likely the result of storage in a sooty London office. The margins displayed a thick layer of brittle, cracked, brown adhesive, likely left behind by a previous display mat. Most significantly, the drawing had been executed on drawing board, a commercially-produced material that becomes acidic with age. Given the board’s deterioration, cracks and losses had occurred, and were likely to worsen with handling. The goals of treatment were to improve stability, access, and aesthetics, and to reduce likelihood of future damage.

First, the drawing was first surface cleaned with brushes and soot sponges, resulting in a notable change in contrast and legibility. Surface cleaning removed acidic components from paper’s surface to slow future pH shifts and to prepare for water-based treatment.

Raking light reveals the extent of grime removed during surface cleaning

Next, the residual adhesive was softened with successive applications of a methyl cellulose poultice, and mechanically removed with a microspatula. Methyl cellulose is frequently used in conservation as a controlled moisture delivery method. The residual adhesive is glue made from animal hide, so it responds to water without need for more aggresive solvents.

Then, the drawing was removed from its acidic backing board. This process involved using a modified bone tool to split the drawing from its board. Remaining fibers were then pared away with a modified lifting knife while working on a light table. This process represents a major change for the item that requires justification. In this case, removing the backing significantly reduces the risk of future damage, and no significant content was on the back of the drawing.

Portions of the backing board have been split from the drawing

Last, the drawing was washed on damp blotter to reduce acidity, remove degradation components, and reduce discoloration. A lining of Japanese tissue was then adhered with reversible wheat starch paste to provide ongoing flexibility and stability.

A Japanese tissue lining is adhered with wheat starch paste and a tamping brush

Thanks to the Alexander Architectural Archives for the opportunity to work on this drawing. I hope to visit this building in London someday!

Students Compare Flattening Methods for Tracing Paper

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Sarah S Norris

This spring, my lab students had a unique opportunity to compare the effectiveness of two treatment methods. While ours was an informal observation, it was nevertheless informative for future projects!

Our class was conducting conservation treatment on a batch of rolled architectural drawings. These drawings were on tracing paper, a material that can respond unpredictably to water exposure. Unfortunately, the most effective way to flatten rolled documents is through humidification! This poses a challenge for both preservation and access.

After testing our media for water solubility, the first half of the class proceeded with humidification and flattening through one method that is fairly well accepted in paper conservation. These documents were dried between blotter paper and stiff boards, beneath weights. The resulting documents were flat for storage and handling, but slightly rippled. Could we do any better?

The second half of the class responded by using a drying method called the hard-soft sandwich. This method was developed in response to the special needs of tracing paper, in a publication by Hildegard Homburger and Barbara Korbel (see below). Differences in this method as compared to a traditional blotter stack include:

Felt instead of blotter paper as one layer of the stack.
Significantly increased weight on the stack.
Increased drying time.

And it worked!

The hard-soft sandwich, a drying method devised for tracing paper

The resulting sheets had fewer ripples in the surface, making subsequent mending of tears easier.

Though these are informal findings, this class did present a unique opportunity to compare drying methods on similar materials with similar provenance and storage history, all from the same collection. Managing such parameters on historical materials is a major challenge in conservation research. Thanks to my lab students for taking on this learning experience with me!

References

Homburger, Hildegard and Barbara Korbel. “Architectural Drawings on Transparent Paper:
Modifications of Conservation Treatments.” Book and Paper Group Annual 18: 25-33.

Students Perform Conservation Treatment on Drawings by Charles Stevens Dilbeck

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Sarah S Norris

Once again this spring, we’re excited for my Introduction to Paper Conservation class to collaborate with the Alexander Architectural Archives! Students will perform conservation treatment on drawings from the Charles Stevens Dilbeck (1907 – 1990) collection. Dilbeck is best known for his residential designs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He created romantic cottages with French and Irish influences, as well Texas Ranch style houses. His work is documented and explored further by the Dilbeck Architecture Conservancy.

A Dilbeck drawing is unrolled for initial examination.

Drawings for treatment consist primarily of graphite on tracing paper. As the students develop introductory treatment skills, our group will work to clean, humidify and flatten, and conduct basic mends. In taking these materials from rolled storage to flat storage, we’ll improve accessibility for patrons and enhance future stability and preservation.

A drawing detail highlights the meticulous work of draftsmen in a mid-20th-century architecture firm.

Life in Stereoscope

Posted on November 13, 2023 by Sarah S Norris

Three cheers for Life in Stereoscope: Viewable Vistas, Industry, and Family Life, on view at the UT School of Information through November 16. This exhibit is created by the students in my course, Planning and Understanding Exhibits. Every bit of the exhibit is designed and executed by the students, from item selection and narrative flow to writing text; designing for print; building exhibit supports; creating interactive, educational elements; and promoting the exhibit within UT and beyond. Check us out on Instagram!

Students install the class exhibit. Image: https://www.instagram.com/ischoolexhibits/

Stereoviewer — Students install the class exhibit. Image: https://www.instagram.com/ischoolexhibits/

Special kudos to our web team, who designed our exhibit website using CollectionBuilder. This open-source software is created by the University of Idaho with support from the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Our class was selected from a competitive pool to provide a test case for this software. The students will provide feedback to help refine this tool that supports the creation of sustainable, digital collections and exhibits.

Special thanks also to visiting stereocard artist Tay Hall, who discussed their process and works at our exhibit reception. Tay’s work demonstrated modern applications for this historical format. Learn more at https://www.tayhallstudio.com/

Conservation Treatment: McDonald Observatory Drawing

Posted on May 9, 2023 by Sarah S Norris

This semester, I was pleased to conduct conservation treatment on an architectural drawing of the McDonald Observatory, a leading center for astronomical research and teaching located in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. This 25″ x 42″ charcoal and graphite drawing, made by University of Texas architects in 1934, is housed at the Alexander Architectural Archives here at the University of Texas.

The drawing had several condition issues when it entered the lab. A large tear extended up the center of the drawing, nearly separating the paper in two. The tear had been previously repaired with pressure-sensitive tape, which had become browned and embrittled over time. The tape repair was visible through the drawing’s thin tracing paper. The tear was misaligned along the tape repair, causing gaps in the image and text, as well as rippling from stress in the paper. Creases and grime had resulted from handling. The charcoal had offset during direct contact with storage materials.

Mending the tear on the light table to ensure proper alignment

During treatment, the drawing underwent surface cleaning and several rounds of humidification and flattening to reduce grime and creasing. The discolored tape was removed manually, with controlled application of moisture to soften areas of stiff adhesive. The tear was realigned and mended with heat-set tissue to minimize water exposure to the moisture-sensitive tracing paper. Wheat starch paste was added in small mended areas to improve strength.

Last, a sink mat was constructed to safely house the drawing. The deep walls of the mat hold its cover sheet away from the drawing to prevent further media offset. Acid-free corrugated board was used for structural elements to provide stiffness with minimal weight. A second ply of board, applied cross-grained, was added to support this oversize drawing.

Many thanks to the Alexander Architectural Archives for the chance to work on this beautiful drawing!

Sarah Norris

Library and Archives Conservation

Tag Archives: School of Information